âť“WHAT HAPPENED: A Portland City Council member recommended using burner phones and encrypted messaging apps to avoid tracking by federal agents.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Council Member Angelita Morillo, Portland City Council member, and protesters against ICE facilities.
đź“ŤWHEN & WHERE: October 2, 2025, in Portland, Oregon.
đź’¬KEY QUOTE: “Your phone? You should consider this a tracker and a listening device at all times.” – Angelita Morillo
🎯IMPACT:While Morillo emphasized the need for protesters to protect themselves from surveillance, the recommendation could also be used by violent protestors to elude law enforcement.
Far-left Portland City Council member Angelita Morillo—a bisexual, self-described “queer” using they/them pronouns, originally from Paraguay—is advising city residents to buy burner phones and use encrypted messaging apps to avoid tracking by immigration officers and federal agents. This recommendation was made in a nearly three-minute video posted to her Facebook account.
Morillo’s advice comes as a response to President Donald J. Trump‘s decision to deploy the National Guard to Portland to defend U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities that have faced ongoing violent demonstrations and attacks by Antifa. While the far-left city council member emphasized the need for protesters to protect themselves from surveillance, the recommendation could also be used by violent protestors to elude law enforcement.
In her video, Morillo stated, “Your phone? You should consider this a tracker and a listening device at all times,” warning that phones can track location and identify patterns of communication and organization.
Morillo suggested additional precautions such as using a Faraday cage, disabling fingerprint and facial recognition technology, and having a secure PIN. She also recommended purchasing burner phones in cash and using encrypted apps like Signal.
She concluded by encouraging protesters to organize smartly and with trusted individuals, stressing the importance of being “smarter, and better organized than our opposition.”
Far-left @PortlandGov city council member Angelita Morillo, a socialist, posted a video where she gives instructions for how rioters can avoid being identified after committing crimes.
The anti-government extremist tells her comrades to buy a burner phone with cash and to use… pic.twitter.com/ZHefnLFY8C
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) September 30, 2025
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